This invention relates to the splinting of members, and, more particularly, to the splinting of injured or broken fingers.
Splints are used to restrict injured and broken members, such as fingers, to a particular position until satisfactory healing has taken place. In some cases the members should be maintained in a particular bent condition. In any case, inadvertent lateral motion of the member is to be avoided since it interferes with the desired healing.
In commonly employed splinting it is extremely difficult to maintain the desired lateral immobility. The consequence is that healing is prolonged, or does not take place correctly. Where conventional splinting is inadequate it may be necessary to completely immobilize the patient. This is particularly unsatisfactory when the broken or injured part is a finger and immobilization limits the ability of the patient to perform other functions.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to achieve splinting which provides the desired degree of lateral support, particularly for fingers.
Another object of the invention is to provide splinting which is able to maintain a broken or injured member in a prescribed bent position. A related object is to achieve splinting in which a desired bend of an injured or broken member can be maintained until suitable healing has taken place.
A further object of the invention is to provide splinting which can be adjusted to a wide variety of bend positions, depending upon what is required for an injured or broken member.
Still another object of the invention is to achieve a universal splint which provides lateral security and can be adjusted to any desired configuration and length.
A still further object of the invention is to reduce the bulkiness of splinting for the maintenance of lateral and vertical security, particularly for broken members such as fingers.